


It's Just the Flu

by Otter_Love_ASL



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Upstead, halstead brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24921949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otter_Love_ASL/pseuds/Otter_Love_ASL
Summary: What happens when Jay gets sick and insists that it's just the flu. Is it or is it something more. Will his stubbornness allow him to accept help
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead
Comments: 6
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

"Jay, hey Jay. Are you still with us?" Antonio Dawson asks as they are going over the information that they know for their current case.

The detective in question gives the older detective a blank look for a moment before his brain catches up. "Yeah," he answers, elbows leaning on his desk, supporting his head in his hands.

"Are you feeling okay? You don't look so hot, brother," Kevin Atwater tells him.

"I'm fine," he tells them. He gets a look for everyone that they don't believe him, "Just a little headache," he lies, when in truth it feels like his head is pounding in sync with his heart, everything hurts, thinks he's running a fever, and starting to feel a bit nauseous to top it off. All but Hailey seem to believe him as they go back to discussing the case. Quietly, she slips two Tylenol pills to him; which he accepts, nodding his thanks. Taking the pills with the smallest amount of water possible, he goes back to trying to focus on the information.

"Hailey and Jay, check out the house," is the next thing that he hears. Not even noticing that Voight had come out of his office. Grabbing his jacket and gun he follows Hailey to her car.

Once in her car, Hailey looks over at her partner and sees him shivering in the passenger seat. Subtly, she turns up the heat and turns the vents towards him. "Did they Tylenol help any?" she asks him. He just nods in reply. "You really don't look good, are you sure you're up to this?" she asks his as she reaches to touch his forehead.

Anticipating her action, he moves slightly giving her the unspoken message not to touch him. "I'm fine. I can do my job, I'm not weak."

"I'm not questioning if you can do your job. And I don't think you're weak, but I can tell you don't feel one hundred percent. I wouldn't think less of you, no one in the unit would, if you went home sick. Taking sick time isn't weak, it's knowing your limits and listening to your body."

"We're here," Jay interrupts her, before getting out of the car to go up to the door. Hailey sighs at his stubbornness, getting out of the car to follow him.

At the door, the pair see that it is slightly ajar. Proceeding carefully, they clear the first room then go to separate rooms, when the suspect gets the jump on Jay and jumps him from behind. With his fever-clouded brain, his reflexes are slow allowing him to get pistol-whipped before fighting back, crashing into a table before getting the suspect under control and cuffing him.

Hearing the commotion, Hailey runs into the room, "Jay are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," he answers as he attempts to get up, but loses his footing, falling into her legs.

"Whoa, careful, Jay," Hailey tells him, while grabbing his shoulder to keep him from face planting to the floor. Eyeing where the gun made contact with his face, she speaks into her radio, "5021 Henry to central. I need an ambulance at my location, non-emergency, and some uniforms,"

"Ambulance and patrol are five minutes out 5021 Henry."

"I'm fine. I don't need to go to Med."

"You were pistol-whipped and almost just face planted trying to get up. I want to make sure you didn't end up with a concussion," Jay goes to protest, but Hailey stops him. "I'm not messing with head injuries and before you say it's not an injury, you're bleeding."

Out of energy, Jay just leans his head on her leg, she can now feel the heat coming from his body.

* * *

The patrol car gets there first. When they get inside Hailey instructs the uniformed officers to take the suspect to their car before combing through the rest of the house. "We cleared it already. Give anything you find to the Intelligence Unit and take the suspect back to the 21st. I have a feeling that this one is done for the day," she whispers the last part as it seems that Jay had fallen into a light sleep, bruises already forming where the gun made contact.

Just after the two patrol officers go upstairs, Ambulance 61 pulls up. Hailey sees Brett and Foster walking in to the house towards them. "What happened?" Brett asks.

"From what I can tell after we split up, the suspect got the jump on him and pistol-whipped him. Can you check to see if he has a concussion? He doesn't need one on top of whatever he has," Hailey explains.

"What's wrong with him?" Foster asks looking at the sleeping figure who is leaning against the female detective.

"I think he has whatever is going around," she whispers not wanting Jay to hear and know they are talking about him. "He said he had a little headache, so for him to admit that it has to be pretty bad, and I think he has a fever."

"Okay, we can check him out in the truck, can you wake him?" Brett asks, having heard stories about what Jay has done to people when woken up unexpectedly.

Slowly Hailey wakes him, by rubbing circles on his back. Once she gets him awake, she asks him if he can walk, receiving a nod in reply. Stumbling a bit Jay uses her for support.

Hailey sits Jay on the bumper of the ambulance and starts to walk away to give him privacy, but he grabs her wrist stopping her from leaving. The look in his eyes asking the unspoken question.

"Jay," Brett grabs his attention, "I'm just going to check if you are concussed and get a set of vitals on you, and we can go from there sound good?"

"Yeah, fine."

After asking him the standard questions, shining a light in his eyes and checking how his eyes are tracking, Brett determines that he is not concussed. She then moves on to check his blood pressure, heartrate, and temperature. Frowning at all the readings. "Can I go back to work now?" he questions when she is finished.

"I don't feel comfortable clearing you to work. You're not concussed, but your blood pressure is low, your heartrate is racing, and your temperature is almost 103. You should go to the doctor and get tested, but I think you have the flu. Go home and get some rest."

"I can't, the cas-" he starts only to be interrupted by Hailey.

"You can. Voight and the team will understand your health comes first. Can you make it to the car on your own?" Jay answers by standing up to walk to the car, but sways as he stands. Grabbing his waist and throwing his arm around his shoulder she guides him to her car, making sure that he stays on his feet.

Getting him settled in the car she goes back to talk to Brett. "Should I take him to the hospital or is he okay to just go back to his apartment?'

"He doesn't need to go to the hospital right now, but keep an eye on his fever. It's at 102.8 right now; if it goes to 103 and you can't get it down after three hours or if it goes to 104, then you should take him. Also try to keep him hydrated, Gatorade and Pedialyte are good for hydration. If someone could stay with him, that would be good. I don't like how hot he's running."

"Okay, thanks Brett," Hailey says as she heads back to her car. When she gets there, she sees that Jay is once again asleep, leaning his head against the window. She decides to call Voight before she gets in the car so she doesn't wake him.

He picks up on the second ring, "Where are you two?" he asks.

"I'm taking Halstead home. I have uniforms bringing the suspect to the 21st."

"What happened are you guys okay?"

"Um, Halstead had a run in with the suspect. He was pistol-whipped and seemed disoriented, so I called an ambulance to make sure he didn't have a concussion. 61 checked him out, he's not concussed, but he's running a fever of 102.8 and Brett didn't like his other vitals. She thinks he has a bad case of the flu. I don't think it's a good idea to leave him by himself, so I was just going to work from his place"

"Okay, let him know that he needs to stay home as long as he has a fever."

"Will do." Hanging up she gets in the car, careful not to startle him awake when she shuts the door.

* * *

Before going to his apartment complex she stops to get Gatorade, Pedialyte and some other supplies, including things to make soup and some medicine he might need. While in the store she calls Will, hoping he's not too busy, to see if there's anything specific to get Jay, knowing he will be too stubborn to ask for anything himself.

"Hailey is everything okay? Is Jay okay?" he asks when he picks up his mind going to the worst about his baby brother.

"Yes, no, mostly," she answers the worried older brother.

"Well, what is it?" Will asks, concern rising in his voice.

Hailey goes on to explain what had happened at the house, "Physically he's fine, he has a small cut and bruising from where he was hit, but he's pretty sick. He's running a fever of close to 103 and he actually admitted to having a headache; he said a little headache, but for him to admit that, you know. He's sleeping in my car now, while I'm picking some things up from the store before I take him back to his place." Will goes to interrupt her, but she stops him, "I'm going to stay with him, he's pretty out of it. Is there anything he likes when he's sick, what flavor should I get him? Brett said that Gatorade and Pedialyte are good for hydration. Or anything I should know?"

"Either Berry Frost or Blue Raspberry Pedialyte, he will drink Grape too. Gatorade is actually not great for you when you are sick, there too much sugar, plus Jay always complains that it makes him feel nauseous. Applesauce is good for him; he shouldn't have dairy if he's sick, but you might be able to get him to eat pudding. Mom always got us chocolate pudding when we were sick growing up. Be careful if he has a nightmare, he will wake up swinging."

"Is there something I can do to help with the nightmares?"

"Probably just contact, whatever you can do to help ground him. He usually gets them when he has a fever, he has since he was a kid and they've only gotten worse with his PTSD."

"Okay, and Brett said not to bring him in unless his temperature was at 103 for three hours or if it went to 104?"

"Yes. You can alternate Tylenol and Motrin," he tells her.

"Okay, speaking of fevers. What kind of thermometer works best? I doubt that Jay has one and I don't want to leave him alone to go get one," she asks.

"I actually stashed one at his place. It's under the sink; it's a dual forehead-ear one. Hey, I have to go, we're slammed, but I will stop by after my shift and stay with him tonight to give you a break. Call me if he gets worse," he hangs up abruptly.

Going back to her shopping, Hailey finds the items that the older Halstead sibling mentioned. After getting checked out, she goes back to her car to find Jay still asleep in the passenger seat, head against the now fogged-up window from the contrast in temperatures. Reaching over to touch his cheek, she thinks that he feels warmer than before. Unconsciously he moves into her cool touch, Hailey tries carefully to move her hand as to not wake home up. Successfully, she starts the drive to his apartment complex.


	2. Chapter 2

Once in the parking lot of Jay's apartment complex, Hailey parks in the spot closest to the entrance as she can. Deciding that she can't get Jay and the supplies inside in the same trip, she decides that, since it is cold enough, she will get Jay settled before getting the groceries.

Putting a hand on his arm, she gently rubbed it while calling his name, hoping that he wouldn't wake up fighting her. Remembering about the time that Adam told her about Jay waking up ready to fight him and what Will just told her about him waking up swinging. Slowly he opens his eyes and moans. "I know, I know. You can go back to sleep soon, but I need you to walk."

"Leave me here, I'll be fine."

"No, you'll be more comfortable in bed, or at the very least on your couch."

Slowly, Jay undoes his seatbelt and starts to get out of the car. Hailey goes around the car to help him, putting his arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waist to steady him.

Entering the building, Hailey guides Jay to the elevator, thankful that his building has one, knowing that he would not be able to manage the stairs today.

* * *

Walking in to his apartment, she helps Jay in to his room and sits him on his bed. "You should change into something more comfortable. Where do you keep sweatpants or something to sleep in?" she asks him.

"Second drawer," Jay tells her. Hailey finds a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and gives them to him. She then gives him some privacy so he can change. Waking into his bathroom, she looks for the thermometer that Will told her about. Finding it exactly where he said it would be, she does a test run on herself trying to figure out how to work the forehead function. After a couple of tries, she figures out how to use it.

Figuring that she gave him enough time to change, she goes back to his room with the thermometer in hand.

"Jay, can I come in?" Hailey asks as she knocks on the door. She enters after hearing a muffled yes. Hailey walks in to find Jay curled up in a ball under the covers, back to her. "Hey, how are you feeling?" She asks, sitting down on the edge of his bed, rubbing his back.

"I'm okay," he lies.

"Mm-hmm, can I take you temperature? Brett said I need to keep an eye on your fever," she asks him. Nodding his consent, Hailey runs it across his forehead and sighs after reading the result, "You don't do anything halfway, do you?" she asks trying to lighten the mood.

"What is it?" He asks

"103.2. You can't have anymore medicine for a couple more hours," she tells him while walking back into the bathroom to get a washcloth. After running the rag under cool water, she rinses it out and folds it. Walking back into Jay's room she lays it across his forehead.

He tries to move away from the cold touch, "It's too cold. Stop. Please."

"I need to get your temperature down or else we're going to be making a trip to Med. Keep that there, I'm going to get the groceries out of the car. I'll be right back."

"You don't have to stay. I'll be fine, and I don't want to get you sick."

"I'm not leaving you alone this sick." She goes out to the car to get the groceries.

* * *

Jay jumps up as fast as he can when the nausea becomes overpowering. Barely making it into the bathroom, Jay leans over the toilet as he loses the contents of his stomach. His stomach deciding to give him a break, he leans over the toilet, arms crossed over the seat head resting in them.

* * *

Hailey walks back into his apartment, groceries in hand. After putting them away, heads to Jay's room, only to stop when she hears the sound of someone being sick in the bathroom. Debating on whether she should leave him be, she decides to check on him.

"Jay, can I come in?" she asks once again. Not receiving an answer, she tells him that she is coming in while slowly opening the door.

Walking in, she sees him leaning over the toilet, body shaking with each move. Getting another rag, she again runs it under cool water, "Jay it's me," she tells him as she places the rag on the back of his neck, not wanting to send him into a panic attack. She sits on the edge of the tub and rubs circles on his back as he continues to heave.

Feeling like his stomach is giving him a break he leans back and rests his head against Hailey's knee. "Do you think you're done?" Hailey asks while running her hand through his hair.

"No, but I don't think I have anything left to throw up," he tells her, voice hoarse from being sick. "You should go. I don't want you to get this," Jay tried again to get her to leave.

Hailey's heart broke for her partner, who seemed like he doesn't understand that he is worth being taken care of. "I'm not leaving," she tells him. "Do you want to go back to bed, if I get you a bucket?" Jay shakes his head no. "Do you want to lay on the couch? I think it would be good for you if we move you from the floor," she tries to convince him. Reluctantly Jay agrees. "Okay, I'm going to fix the couch for you," she tells him as she gets up.

Hailey goes to his hall closet and grabs some blankets and then goes into his room to grab his pillow. After turning his couch into a bed, she goes back into the bathroom to find Jay laying on the floor. "C'mon, Partner. Let's get you to the couch," Hailey coaxes as she gets him up and helps him to the couch.

After getting him settled with another washcloth across his head, Hailey quietly goes to the kitchen to make him soup, hoping that she will be able to get him to eat a little bit later.

* * *

Hailey feels Jay stir under her hand that was stroking his hair halfway through the movie she was watching on low. She pauses it, "Hey, how are you feeling? Any better?" she asks.

"A little bit," he lies. "Don't stop. Please," he asks referring to her stroking his hair.

"Jay, I'm your partner and I know you better than you think I do. I know you're lying, so tell me what's wrong so I can help," she tells him. "Is this helping?"

"Everything hurts. It feels like the flu, but a hundred times worse," he tells her not wanting to sound like he is complaining. "A little, it feels nice," he tells her.

Hailey is both happy and surprised that Jay is opening up to her, "I get it, it's comforting," she says as he nods. She takes her free hand and presses the back of it to his forehead and cheek. "You still feel pretty warm," looking at the time she tells him, "You can have some Motrin now. Let me check your temperature then you can have some," she says as she gets up to retrieve the thermometer from his room.

Since she had the wet cloth resting on his head, she figured that the ear method would be more reliable. Sighing as she looks at the reading, Hailey puts the thermometer on the coffee table.

"What is it?" Jay asks her, looking up to her with bloodshot eyes.

"103.5," Jay groans. "Hey, we don't have to go to Med yet. I made some soup, can you try to eat some. I don't want to give you any medicine on an empty stomach."

"I don't know."

"Just a little bit."

"I'll try."

"That's all I ask," she tells him as she gets a bowl of soup for him. "Here it's a traditional Greek soup."

"Thanks," he whispers. After eating about ten spoonfuls, he pushes the bowl away. "Sorry."

"It's okay, here take these," She orders as she hands him two pills and a bottle of water. He takes them with the smallest amount of water possible. "Drink, you're really dehydrated."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Okay, but you need to try later," Hailey gives in, not happy, but wanting Jay to be able to keep the Motrin down long enough for it to lower his fever. "Try to go back to sleep, hopefully, you can sleep through the worst of it," she says, pulling him to lay back down, head on the pillow laying on her lap. Making sure the cloth is going to stay on his head, she starts playing with his hair again while turning the movie back on. He is back to sleep within minutes.

* * *

As the movie ends, Hailey checks his temperature again. Using the ear function to get the most accurate reading because of the wet rag, she carefully places it in Jay's ear and makes soothing noises when he stirs from the intrusion. Jay flinches when the device beeps in his ear, "Shh, you're okay Jay. You're safe," she soothes until he settles down again. Hailey looks at the device and frowns at the reading of 102.9. It's better but still higher than she would like. She also doesn't like how fast Jay settled back down and how the beeping or sticking the device in his ear didn't actually wake him, not that she wanted it to, he needs the rest, but for Jay to have his guard down like this, he must really be sick.

Just as she's about to pick another movie, her phone starts ringing. Hailey moves to silent it quickly, not wanting to wake the sick detective. Seeing that it is Will she answers in a hushed voice, "Hey, Will."

"Hey, sorry. I have a break and just wanted to check on him. Why are you whispering?"

"Jay's asleep on the couch and using my leg as a pillow," Hailey tells the older Halstead while placing her free hand over his ear not covered by the pillow, hoping to block out the sound of their conversation.

"Sorry, I should have warned you, he likes physical contact when he's sick, even if he'll never admit it. How's he doing? Has he had any nightmares?"

"He's pretty sick, but doing okay considering. His temperature was 103.5, but we got it back down to 102.9. Not great but going in the right direction. He did get sick, so between that and the fever, I'm guessing he's dehydrated. I got him to eat a bit of soup before I gave him the Motrin. I tried to get him to drink, but he was convinced he was just going to throw it up. I didn't push because I wanted the Motrin to have a chance to get into his system and work, I'm going to try to force him when he wakes up again. As for nightmares, I don't think he's had any, but he's barely been by himself. He's mostly been on the couch."

"Okay, I'm being paged, but if he refuses to drink, try getting him to suck on some ice. That might be easier for him to keep down. Call me if you need anything, I'll keep my phone on me."

"Okay, but we'll be fine," Hailey assured the worried brother before hanging up.

Selecting another movie, Hailey goes back to absentmindedly playing with Jay's hair, while he slept peacefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conversions:  
> 103.2= 39.6  
> 103.5= 39.7  
> 102.9= 39.4


	3. Chapter 3

An hour into the movie, Jay's sleep becomes restless. Jay whimpers as he fists Hailey's pant leg, burying his face in the pillow resting on her leg. Hailey cautiously places a hand on his back and starts rubbing circles on his back, just as she had done hours before, hoping that it will calm him. "Jay, wake up," Hailey tries, not wanting to startle him, but at the same time wanting to pull him from where he seems to be trapped. "Jay, you're safe. You're in your apartment in Chicago," Hailey keeps trying, repeatedly telling him that he is safe.

Jay startles awake gagging. Hailey somewhat expecting that Jay was going to be sick again, quickly has the bucket under his chin to catch the little bit of soup that he had managed to eat. "Shh, you're okay. Let it out, you'll feel better after," she encourages him. "Just breathe."

After a few minutes, Jay is reduced to dry heaving, eyes watering from the force. Hailey not knowing how to comfort her partner, just keeps whispering soothe nothings until he is able to stop. "Do you think you're done for now?" She asks him while still rubbing his back.

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Okay, I'm going to get you some water-"

"No. I'm just going to throw it up."

"I'm going to get you water to rinse your mouth out."

"Oh." Hailey walks to the kitchen and grabs a glass of water and puts some ice in a bowl, hoping she can get Jay to eat some. Walking back to Jay, she hands him the glass, "Here rinse and spit."

Jay does as he's told. "I'm sorry," Jay apologizes.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For being sick, for _getting_ sick, being a burden, that-"

"Stop," Hailey interrupts him. "First thing's first; you're _not_ a burden. It's not your fault that you're not feeling well. And you can't help it if you throw up. Okay? Do you understand me?"

"I guess."

"Hey, you're really dehydrated. Do you think you can manage some ice cubes? Will said that they might be easier for you to keep down than liquids for now," she asks, trying to change the subject.

"You called Will? I'm fine, it's just the flu or some bug, I'm not dying."

"I called when you were sleeping in the car. I wanted to see if you had any comfort foods when you're sick, and I knew you wouldn't ask for anything yourself. He called maybe an hour ago? He's worried, that's what older siblings do."

"He shouldn't have to," Jay says weakly.

"He's your older brother, he's always going to worry about you." Hailey could sense that he was getting uncomfortable so she decided to change the subject, "How are you feeling now?"

He looks at her, his eyes showing a flood of emotions, "Like shit. Everything hurts, it feels like hot knives are going through my head, and now my shoulders and neck really hurt. I'm going from hot to cold and I have the chills. And I'm still nauseous," he tells her no longer caring if it sounds like he's complaining.

Hailey's heart breaks for him, seeing Jay this vulnerable is something that she's not used to seeing and she doesn't like it. She does the only thing she can think to do and pulls him into a tight protective hug. This is all the contact that Jay needs to break down. Hailey just rocks him back and forth trying to calm him as he cries. "Shh, I'm so sorry you feel this bad. Let it out, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." As Jay hears this he just cries harder, as he hasn't been this sick in years and hasn't had someone care for him like this since his mom was still alive, and starts to gag himself. "Jay, you need to calm down. You're going to make yourself sick again," she tells him, while still hugging him tightly with one arm while the other grabs the bucket just in case. Jay is able to calm down enough that now only stray tears are escaping.

"Did that help any?"

"No, I think I feel worse if that's possible. My head really hurts now."

"I think it will help if you got some fluids in you. Can you try some ice cubes?"

"Okay," uncertainty is in his voice.

"Here," Hailey hands him the bowl with the ice. He goes to grab it, but his hands are shaking too much. He looks at her, ashamed. "It's okay," she tells him while getting up to put it in a cup instead. Jay is able to handle the cup better than the bowl and eat some of the ice; he is able to keep it down

Jay exhaustedly leans against Hailey. "Hey, do you want to go to bed?" she asks him.

He shakes his head _no_. "Can I just stay here?"

"Hey, it's your apartment. You can be wherever you want."

"But will it bother you?"

"No, Jay. Do you want to lay down again?"

"Can we stay like this?" he asks.

"Sure, do you want me to put a movie in?"

"You can play whatever you want."

"Don't you have a sick day movie that you like to watch?" she presses.

"It's stupid."

"No, it's not. I won't laugh."

" _Happy Feet_?" he asks her uncertain of her reaction.

"That's a good movie," she tells him as she switches the movie to _Happy Feet_. As Jay leans his head into her shoulder, she can feel the heat radiating off of him. Looking over at Jay, Hailey can see that his eyes are closed. "Jay, lay down," she tells him.

"The light hurts," he tells her. At this Hailey lowers the lamp.

"Is this better?" She asks him. Jay cracks an eye open, and sighs in content. "How's your neck feel?"

"It still hurts." At this Hailey forces him to lay down and starts massaging his neck.

* * *

Half an hour into the movie, Hailey can feel Jay shaking, moving the blanket to cover him better she reaches to feel his forehead, she is surprised by the amount of heat coming off of him. Jay reaches up to grab her hand, "Your hand's cold," he tells her.

"Sorry," she tells him, noting that his hand is freezing. Reaching for the thermometer she tells Jay to hold still. Worried, Hailey reads the thermometer after it beeps. "103.6, it went up again. Do you think you can handle some Tylenol?" Jay just nods his head weakly. She helps him sit up enough to take the pills with some of the Blue Raspberry Pedialyte. "Do you think you can drink some more of this?" she asks him.

Jay looks at the bottle skeptically, "Just a few sips?" Hailey almost begs, "You're really dehydrated." Jay takes a few small sips before handing the bottle back to her.

"Thank you," she tells him as he resumes his spot on her lap. "Does your neck still bother you?"

"Yeah, I think I pulled something when I was throwing up." Hailey goes back to massaging his neck as they both watch the movie, Jay struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Close your eyes. Hopefully, the Tylenol will kick in soon," she tells him as she notices him struggling.

"I hope so, this sucks. I hope you don't get this, I feel really sick."

"I know, I know," she tells him, noticing that this is the first time that he didn't try to get her to leave. Not sure if it's because he feels so bad, or because he is learning to not push her away.

Jay is back to sleep within minutes. Hailey decides to use this time to check her emails and to try to catch up on the case since she has been at Jay's apartment for the majority of the day.

* * *

Just as the ending credits come up, Jay seems to be caught up in another nightmare, this time calling out for his mother. Hailey's heart breaks for him for the third time today.

Hailey is torn between waking him up to tear him away from this nightmare or having wake up without being able to give him his mother. She decides to wake him.

He wakes up dazed and confused looking around. Hailey tries to remain still as to not startle him. "Hey, you with me now?"

"Ugh, what happened?"

"You had another nightmare."

"You should leave if I get another one, I don't want to hurt you. I won't forgive myself if I do," he tells her now sitting up with his head in his hands.

"Hey, you didn't hurt me. And you would never hurt me purposely; if I am able to forgive you for something that you can't control, then you should forgive yourself," she tells him while rubbing his back.

After a few more minutes, Jay seems to have calmed down, so Hailey decides that she should try to get some food in him. "Do you think you can try to eat some soup or toast, are you still nauseated?" she asks him.

"Not as much. I think I can try."

"Good. Toast or soup?" Jay just shrugs his shoulders. "What about some soup? That will help hydrate you too."

"Okay."

Hailey goes to the kitchen to heat up the soup from earlier. Coming back into the living room, with two bowls, she hands one to Jay. "Here, try to eat half of this," she tells him as she sits back down next to him.

Jay manages to eat about a quarter of the soup before he starts playing with it.

Noticing, Hailey asks, "Does it taste okay?" snapping Jay out of his trance.

"Yeah, it's really good Hailey. I'm just not that hungry. Sorry."

"No, it's okay. I don't want you to force yourself to eat. You're going to make yourself sick again if you do." She takes the bowls back to the kitchen, she put Jay's in a container and put it in the refrigerator then washed both bowls before going back to the living room.

When she got back, Jay was once again lying on his side curled up in a ball. Hailey fixed the blanket to cover him better as he was still shivering, Jay opens his eyes when he feels the blanket move. "Hey, how are you feeling?" she asks while feeling his cheek and forehead with the back of her hand, Jay leaning into her touch.

"Sick. Your hand is cold."

"Sorry. You're burning up," she says, worried that he admitted that he felt sick because he must be _really_ sick if he's admitting it. Hailey reaches for the thermometer and runs it across Jay's head, "103.9, Jay tell me what's wrong."

"Headache, nauseous, hot and cold, chills, tired, everything aches. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining."

"You're not, but I need to know what's wrong. If your fever doesn't come down soon, or if it goes any higher we have to go to Med." Jay closes his eyes and nods that he heard her. "Try to go back to sleep, I'll check your temperature again in a little bit and wake you when you can have more Motrin," she says as she comes back with a cool washcloth and places it across his head. Jay shivers as it makes contact.

Hailey sits back down by his head after putting _Happy Feet_ back on and he moves so that he is resting on her lap. Hailey starts running her hand through his hair again putting him to sleep in minutes. She keeps a hand on his head to keep contact in the hope to avoid another nightmare and also as a way to keep an eye on his temperature.

Hailey checks his temperature again in a half an hour to find that it hasn't changed. Putting a timer on her phone, so she can check again in a half-hour, she decides to squeeze in a quick nap.

* * *

Waking up to the sound of the timer on her phone, she sees that Jay is still resting peacefully for the most part. Placing the thermometer in his ear, it is disconcerting that he doesn't move when it is placed in his ear nor when it beeps. Looking at the result, Hailey sighs. Placing a hand on Jay's back she starts to rub circles on his back, gently calling his name. After a few minutes Jay finally stirs awake, "Jay, hey. Your fever is too high, I need to take you to Med. Can you put your shoes and jacket on? I'm going to call Will and let him know I'm bringing you in." Jay only moans while sitting up; the fact that he didn't protest going to Med or calling Will sets off alarm bells in Hailey's head, that he must be _really_ sick. Jay hates people worrying about him, especially his brother, almost as much as he hates hospitals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conversions:  
> 103.6= 39.8  
> 103.9= 39.9


	4. Chapter 4

Hailey walks into Jay's room to grab a hoodie, his wallet, and a pair of sneakers for him while trying to get a hold of Will. She puts her phone back in her pocket after getting his voicemail, bringing Jay the hoodie and sneakers.

"Here put these on," she orders giving him the items. Walking away to grab her own jacket and a couple of bags, in case he gets sick on the way. When she gets back to him, she informs him, "I couldn't get a hold of Will, he must be busy. I'll track him down once we get to Med."

Hailey helps Jay with his hoodie before helping him up. "C'mon, partner. We'll go at your pace," she tells him as she puts her arm around his waist to steady him as he sways.

Slowly, they make their way to the elevator and then the parking lot where she left her car. After getting him settled in the passenger seat, she hands him the bag. Making her way to the driver's side she gets in and starts the trip to Med, being careful to not trigger his nausea.

* * *

Arriving at Med, Hailey parks as close to the ED entrance as she can. She looks over to Jay to see that he has fallen asleep on the ride over; reaching over to him, she rubs his arm and calls his name. Once he is somewhat awake, she tells him, "Jay we're here," getting a groan out of him. "Just a little farther." Getting him out of the car and into the busy waiting room she sits him in a chair before going to the nurses' desk to check him in. In the cool air-conditioned waiting room, Jay starts to shiver violently, Hailey rubs his shoulder in a comforting manner, regretting that she didn't bring a blanket for him.

At the nurses' desk is a young nurse who looks like she wants to be anywhere but there. "Hi, I need to check my friend in."

The nurse barely looks up before handing Hailey a clipboard of paperwork, "Fill this out and then bring it back," she tells her. "And if he has a fever, cough, and/or sore throat he needs to wear a mask," the nurse tells Hailey while hanging her a mask.

"How soon can he be seen?" Hailey asks. Anxious to get Jay seen, looking back to him. His feet are on the chair, curled up in a ball, shivering.

"Can't say, it's busy today," the nurse tells her while looking at her computer.

"Please, I've never seen him this sick before."

The nurse finally looks at her, her name tag now showing her name to be _Colleen_ , "Then the sooner these get filled out the sooner he will be seen. Now there are people behind you," the nurse tells her.

Hailey sighed, regretting that she forgot to bring their badges, "Fine, but can you tell Dr. Will Halstead that his _brother_ is here?"

"Yes, fine."

Hailey goes back to Jay, gives him the mask and sits to his left, knowing that she is left-handed, Jay adjusts himself so that he is leaning against her shoulder. "Jay, what's your full name?" She asks while filling out the forms.

"Jacob Ryan Halstead." She continued to ask Jay questions for the answers that she didn't know. Once finished she took the clipboard back to the nurses' desk.

* * *

An hour goes by, and they are still in the same spot. "Can we leave, this isn't doing anything?" Jay asks when Hailey thought he had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

"No. Your fever is too high, you need to be checked out."

"I don't feel good," Jay murmurs no longer caring about how it sounds.

"I know, I know. I'm going to see what's taking so long," she says as she gets up, being careful not to jostle him too much.

There is no line at the nurses' desk, so she goes right up and asks, "What is taking so long?"

"If you haven't noticed, we're swamped, the flu is bad this season. Besides, he probably just has man-flu."

"No, it's not. He never admits when he's sick and he didn't even fight me about coming here. Have you even let his brother know he's here?"

"No, I haven't. We're not supposed to page doctors unless it's about a patient."

"Then get me Maggie Lockwood."

"Again, unless it's about a patient, we aren't to disturb them."

Hailey leaves fuming, doing her best to calm herself before she reaches Jay. Sitting back down she pulls him into her embrace, trying to control his shivering.

* * *

Another forty-five minutes pass with nothing happening.

Just as Hailey was about to go up to the nurses' desk again, Natalie walks through the door. About to go on break, but spots her boyfriend's brother and his partner. She goes over to them, not liking how Jay looks, "Hey guys, what's going on?" she asks while placing the back of her hand on Jay's forehead. Although asleep, Jay leans into the maternal touch. Natalie is shocked by how hot he feels.

Hailey answers, "Long story short, Jay got pistol-whipped today at a scene. I called for an ambulance to make sure that he wasn't concussed. He wasn't but was running a fever of 102.8. Voight sent him home. He's thrown up a few times, been lethargic, bad headache, dizzy, last I checked his temperature it was 104.3, so I brought him here. We've been waiting for just over two hours. I know that it's been busy, but I was hoping that Will would have gotten back to me by now. I asked the nurse at the desk to let him know that Jay's here, but she said that they're not allowed to page doctors unless it's about a patient. I mean Jay didn't put up a fight about coming here and actually admitted that he felt sick, I'm worried and the nurse said he probably just has 'man-flu'."

"Okay, we will deal with her later, but I'm more worried about Jay right now. I'm going to grab a wheelchair for him."

Natalie comes back a minute later with a wheelchair. "Can you wake him?"

"Mm-hmm, Jay wake up partner," she says while rubbing his shoulder.

"What's happening?"

"We're getting you checked out now."

Jay goes to get up, but sways. Both Hailey and Natalie grab him and help him sit in the wheelchair.

* * *

"Hop up here for me Jay," Natalie asks while patting the exam bed. Jay does as asked and then curls back up into his ball. "Hey, buddy. I need you to change into this gown, you can take the mask off now if you want too and I'm going to send a nurse in to take your vitals and find your brother." Natalie tells him as she walks out of the room.

Hailey sits in the chair and looks at her phone, so Jay doesn't think that she's watching him.

* * *

Natalie walks out of the exam room to the nurses' station. "Hey, April. Can you check out Jay in four?" Natalie asks.

"Jay? Will's brother?"

"Yeah. Hailey brought him in; he's pretty sick. I need to find Will."

"Yeah. Will doesn't know he's here?"

"No. Hailey couldn't get a hold of him, and the intake nurse wouldn't page him," Natalie explained as she walks away spotting the red-headed doctor.

"Will!" She calls grabbing his attention.

"Hey, Nat," he replies, not knowing what he is about to be told.

"Have you heard from Hailey or Jay lately?"

"No. Jay got sick at work and Hailey took him home, she's staying with him until I get off. I'm going to stay with him tonight, sorry I forgot to mention it before."

"Hailey brought Jay in. He's in exam four," she tells him quickly. Will is gone before she can get anything else out.

* * *

Shivering after putting on the gown, Hailey climbs up next to him on the bed and starts rubbing his arm, trying to help him feel warm, with one hand, while running her other hand through his hair like she was earlier, trying to get him to relax.

Hailey looks up, hearing a knock on the door and a second later April enters; Jay doesn't acknowledge that she's now in the room.

"Hey, I'm just going to get a set of vitals," April says while putting on a pair of gloves.

Before she can approach Jay, Will runs into the room, looking panicked.

"Hey, Will. He's okay, his temperature is just too high and he's miserable," Hailey tries to reassure the worried brother.

He looks to April, "Are those gloves latex?"

"Yes, why?"

"He's allergic to latex." At this, April disposes the gloves and puts on a new pair that are nitrile instead.

She first takes his temperature by running the thermometer across his forehead and writing down the result, Will watching her every move. She then puts the blood pressure cuff around his upper arm and takes his heart rate before putting an oximeter around his finger.

Through all of this, he barely moves, which worries both Hailey and Will.

Will looks at what April wrote before going to his brother and placing his hand on Jay's forehead, frowning at the heat emitting from his body. As if knowing it was Will, Jay whimpered and leaned into the touch.

It is this moment that Connor Rhodes enters the room, "Hey, Detective. Heard you're not feeling so hot," while looking at the notes, surprised when Jay doesn't move.

"Connor, he's allergic to latex," Will tells him before Connor has a chance to put on the gloves. He nods in acknowledgment.

"April, can you take some blood samples then get a line of cool saline going and find a light cooling blanket. We need to get his temperature down," Connor orders.

Will stays by Jay's head, rubbing it knowing that it relaxed him.

"Will, can you wake him?" Connor asks. "I need to find out his symptoms."

"Hey, buddy. I need you to wake up for me."

Jay finally starts to rouse, "Will? What are you doing here?" he tries to ask.

"Nat got me. We need to take some blood to figure out what's wrong." Jay just nods ever so slightly.

"Jay," Connor interrupts the brothers, "can you tell me what your symptoms are?" Jay stays quiet.

"It's okay Jay. You can tell him, he's just trying to help," Will encourages his brother.

"Um, headache, tired, nauseous, achy, cold, kinda dizzy," Jay lists.

"He seemed disoriented, was running a high fever most of the day, his hands were actually pretty cold earlier today, he did throw up a couple of times, and he said that his neck and shoulders were bothering him," Hailey adds.

The two doctors look at each other when Hailey adds to Jay's list. "Did he have a sensitivity to light?" Rhodes asked her.

"He said that the light hurt," Hailey answers worried for her partner.

"Jay, can you touch your chin to your chest?" Rhodes asks him. Jay tries but stops midway, crying out in pain. "Okay, you can stop now. You did good," he tells the detective.

Rhodes looks at Will, concern in his eyes, "We need to do an LP."

"I know."

"Jay, we need to run another test, it's going to hurt, but we need to do it to find out what's wrong. I think I know what's wrong, but the test will confirm it."

"Okay," he answers softly.

"April, get a latex allergy and fall risk wristband for him," Rhodes orders.

"Get an allergy one too, penicillin," Will adds.

"Hailey, can we talk in the hallway?"

"Sure, Jay are you going to be okay here?" she asks him.

"He'll be fine. I'm going to stay with him," Will tells her.

"Okay." Hailey follows Rhodes out to the hallway.

"You've has the most contact with him today?"

"Yes, why?" she asks worriedly.

"How do you feel? Do you feel sick?"

"No. What's wrong with him?"

"We have a hunch that he's contracted meningitis, but can't confirm without a spinal tap. But if we're right then it's very contagious. Can you get everyone that he's had contact with since he started showing symptoms?"

"Yeah, of course."

* * *

Shortly after Hailey leaves the room with Rhodes, April comes back in with the three wristbands. Knowing that he is a veteran and what can come with it, she does not want to startle him when she sees that it appears that he fell into a light sleep, so she looks at Will to wake him.

"Jay," Will calls as he rubs his brother's shoulder, "April is going to put some wristbands on you, okay? Don't fight her." Jay gives him a tired _okay_.

At his consent, April puts on the color-coded wristbands one by one on his left wrist opposite of his regular hospital wristband; green for the latex allergy, yellow for the fall risk, and red for the penicillin allergy. "Is he allergic to anything else besides penicillin?" April asks Will as she writes penicillin on the red wristband.

"No, just that and the latex."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conversions:  
> 102.8= 39.3  
> 104.3= 40.2


	5. Chapter 5

Looking at her watch, Hailey sees that it's only eight o'clock. Knowing that they are deep in a case, she is hoping that they haven't left the district yet, so she only has to make one call. Unlocking her phone, Hailey dials Antonio knowing he has the ability to stay calm.

He picks up on the second ring, "Hey, Hailey. How's Jay doing?"

"That's actually why I'm calling. Are you guys still at the district?"

"Yes," he answers concern seeping through his voice. "Do you want to be put on speakerphone?"

"No, no. Is everyone there?"

"Yes."

"What about the suspect who pistol-whipped Jay? Is he still in holding?"

"Yes. We're holding him for forty-eight hours."

"Okay. You guys need to come to Med," Hailey starts.

"Wait what happened?" Antonio interrupts.

"He was running a high fever all day and it spiked about two and a half hours ago, so I brought him to Med. We waited for just over two hours before Natalie saw us and took him back. Rhodes said that he has a hunch that it's meningitis and they need to do a spinal tap to confirm but to get everyone he had contact with since he started showing symptoms to Med. If it is meningitis then he's very contagious and from the looks that Rhodes and Will were giving each other I think it's serious."

"Okay, I'll get everyone there as soon as I can."

"Okay. We're still in the ED, but I'll text you if that changes."

The two detectives hang up, before she makes calls Stella Kidd, not having either of the paramedics' numbers. She picks up on the third ring.

"Hey, Detective. What can I do for you?"

"Sorry, but can you give me to either Brett or Foster? I didn't have either of their numbers."

"Yeah, sure. Give me a second." Hailey can hear her yell for Brett in the background, before the sound of the phone exchanging hands.

"Hi, Detective. Stella said that you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah. I ended up taking Jay to Med and Rhodes said to get everyone that he had contact with here. Rhodes thinks it's meningitis, but he wants to run one more test to confirm it."

"Okay. I need to talk with Boden about taking 61 out of service, but we'll be there when we can." After talking for a few more minutes they hang up.

* * *

While Hailey was on the phone, Will had been pulled into the hall with Rhodes to discuss how to proceed.

While talking, the resident who was working with Rhodes for the day, Elsa Curry, saw that a patient needed an LP. Having done plenty in med school, Elsa decides that she is capable of doing the LP.

Walking past the two doctors, Curry goes into the patient's room. She sees that the patient is lying on his side. "Sir, wake up, I'm going to start the LP now. I'm going to need you to sit up and lean your arms and head on the table. I'll numb the spot before the test," she tells him. "If you sit up now," she says as she puts on a pair of latex gloves.

As Jay goes to sit at the edge of the bed, he becomes dizzy, and stars spot his vision from the change in position. He falls forward, in the process the IV is ripped from his arm. Will and Connor rush in at the sound of the crash; shocked at the scene in front of them, Will immediately goes to his brother while Connor goes to Elsa to see what happened.

"Jay, what happened?" asks Will while pressing a piece of gauze to his arm where the IV was pulled.

"I fell," he states confused. "Can I get off the floor?"

"Oh, yeah. Here, lean on me," Will tells him while bringing Jay's arm over his shoulder to support his brother.

"Student Dr. Curry, what happened?" Connor hissed.

"I saw on the patient's chart that an LP was needed. I have done plenty in school, so I decided that since you are my attending today, I should do the LP. I told the patient that he had to sit up and lean over for the procedure, and that is when he fell," Elsa tells him matter-of-factly while taking her gloves off.

Connor, furious at what the resident has said, he roars, "You have put the well-being of the patient, who is the brother of one of our doctors, at risk. Did you even read his chart? Or did you not see that he's a fall risk? He should have been laying down for it," looking at the gloves in her hand, he asks, "Are those gloves latex?" She nods, like the answer is obvious, "If you look, you would see that he is allergic to latex." Elsa looks at Jay, just now seeing the three extra wristbands on his left arm; the red allergy band, the bright yellow fall risk band, and the bright green latex allergy band screaming at her.

Looking over at the two brothers, Connor sighs, "Go. You're off this case, and Miss Goodwin will be hearing about this."

Turning his attention back to the brothers, he sees that Jay's partner is back, and Jay now settled back in the bed, a bandage on his arm where the IV came out, Will sitting on the bed by his brother's hip, rubbing his arm, with Hailey standing by his head, running her hand through his hair.

Walking up to the bed, "Sorry about student doctor Curry. She will no longer be on your case. How are you feeling Jay?" Connor asks.

"Bad," he murmurs, "Do we have to do that again?"

"The LP?" Connor asks. Jay only hums in response. "Yes, but I'm going to have you lay on your side instead of sitting up okay?"

"Yeah," he whispers.

"Okay, so let's get started. If you can lay on your side." Jay rolls to his side, with the help of his brother. "Now, tuck your legs into your chest and bend your head down." Jay again does what he is told. "Okay, I'm going to give you something to numb the area. Then once that takes effect we can continue with the LP."

After a couple of minutes, Connor puts pressure on Jay's lower back, "Can you feel this?"

"No."

"Okay, I'm going to start the LP. You're going to feel a pressure and it will be uncomfortable, but you need to stay as still as possible."

"Jay, just squeeze my hand okay," Will tells his baby brother while grabbing his hand. Hailey continues to run her hand through his hair while whispering words of comfort as soft whimpers escape his lips.

"Okay, we are done, Jay. You did good," Connor tells him as he puts a bandage on the spot. "You can lay back now," Connor tells him, which he does with the help of Will and Hailey. "So, you are going to need to lay flat for the next twelve hours or so. Or else you're going to be getting a pretty nasty headache on top of the one you have."

Looking to Will, "I'm going to send these to the lab and put a rush on it, but in the meantime, I'm going to start him on aggressive broad spread antibiotics. Looks like meningitis, so we're going to treat it like bacterial until we get the results back," he says while showing Will the vial of cloudy fluid.

"Okay. He's allergic to penicillin," Will reminds him, not wanting any more harm to come to his brother.

"Okay, I'll start him on a cocktail of ceftriaxone and vancomycin."

Looking over to the detective he sees that Jay is drifting back to sleep, "Jay, I'm going to admit you, but in the meantime, start you on some antibiotics that are safe for people with a penicillin allergy. Once we have a room open in ICU we'll move you."

"ICU?" Hailey asks.

"Just a precaution. He's also going to be in droplet precaution isolation for twenty-four hours after the antibiotics start."

Just as Hailey is going to ask another question she receives a text, "Intelligence is here," she says after looking at it. At that moment, an orderly walks in ready to move Jay.

"Okay, Hailey, go meet with them and I'll be there in a minute to explain everything. Will, you can go with Jay."

They both nod, "Jay, you need to wear a mask again until you're in your room," Will tells him as he helps put it on.

* * *

In the waiting room, the Intelligence Unit all stands up when Hailey enters. They all start talking at once trying to find out what is going on with their friend.

"He's being admitted. Rhodes said he's going to be in the ICU as a precaution and in isolation for the first twenty-four to thirty-six hours after the antibiotics starts."

"Is he going to be okay?" Kim asks, worry etched on her face.

Just then Dr. Rhodes steps in, "Why don't we all go to a family room," he suggests.

Once in the room, Rhodes starts, "We did a spinal tap to confirm it, but it appears that Jay has meningitis. Because of the seriousness of the illness, we have started on broad-spectrum antibiotics, in case it is bacterial. We are treating it like it is bacterial until we get his cultures back, but that will take a couple of days. He's being admitted to the ICU as a precaution and in droplet precaution isolation for the first twenty-four hours after the antibiotics starts. Meningitis progresses quickly, but I am hopeful that we caught it early. There are three main types of meningitis; bacterial, viral, and fungal. Fungal is very rare, so we are either looking at viral or bacterial. Viral is more common but less serious, it can be treated at home. Bacterial is less common but needs immediate medical attention with IV antibiotics. Now the reason that you all are here is to be tested as well."

"What kind of test?" Adam asks.

"Blood test and you're all going to be given precautionary antibiotics, 600mg of rifampicin every twelve hours for two days by pill."

"Okay, and we can see him once he's out of isolation?" asks Kim.

"After we do your blood tests, you can see him, two at a time, for five minutes every hour. Will is with him now. You're going to have to wear masks, gloves, and gowns. If you don't have any more questions I'm going to send in April and Monique to take the blood samples. When you're done, you can go to the ICU waiting room and the nurse at the desk will tell you what room he's in," Connor tells the team as he leaves.

* * *

After getting their blood drawn, the Intelligence Unit goes up to the ICU waiting room to find Jay's room.

Arriving in the ICU, the group is spotted by Will. After making sure that Jay is okay, he goes out to greet his brother's team. Before he can be bombarded by their questions, he tells them, "He's settled in his room. Connor has already explained how visiting hours will work until he's out of isolation?" Will asks. As the unit nods the confirmation, he continues, "He has three IVs; one is just fluids to rehydrate him, the second is for pain medication and a fever reducer, and the last one is for the antibiotics. He's still running a pretty high fever so we have a cooling blanket on him, he is on oxygen to help his respiratory system, and the leads on him make it easier for the nurses to keep an eye on his vitals." Giving them a moment to let this sink in, he continues, "given his high fever, and the possibility that it is bacterial and not viral, don't be surprised if he does have a seizure. Two of you can go in now for five minutes and we can rotate until everyone has been in. Just get dressed before you go in and when you come out you can take it off, and throw it in the trash can outside of his room."

Everyone looks at Hailey, "I was with him all day. I can go last," she tells them. They decide that Kevin and Adam would go in first, followed by Antonio and Voight, and lastly Kim and Hailey.


	6. Chapter 6

Following Will into Jay's room, Kevin and Adam are shocked to see how their friend looks. Jay is almost as pale as the blanket placed on top of him, with many monitors and IVs connected to him. "He's actually doing pretty good, considering," Will tells the two officers to break the silence.

After they leave, Antonio and Voight enter with the same silence. When the girls were able to come in his room, Kim gasps at what she sees; not used to seeing her teammate and friend looking so vulnerable.

"He's going to be okay," Will tells them. "We caught it early and he's being treated aggressively."

"He can never do anything halfway, can he?" Hailey asks.

The three, conscious people in the room give that comment a humorless chuckle.

After a while, the girls decide to leave to give Will some time with Jay. Kim leaves first, while Hailey stays back wanting to ask Will something.

"Will," Hailey asks hesitantly.

"Yeah," Will answers, looking up from Jay.

"Should I have brought him in sooner? Would that have made a difference?"

"Hailey, you couldn't have known. Meningitis often presents similar to the flu in the early stages. It hits hard and fast. Most of the time the most distinguishing factors are neck pain and a rash, the latter which Jay didn't present."

"Could he have been redlined through that intake nurse?"

"Don't worry about her, Natalie said she was going to take care of that."

"He's going to be okay? Right?"

"He's going to be fine. We caught it fairly early, he's being treated aggressively, and he's responding well, it isn't getting worse."

"He just looks so…" Hailey trails off.

"He's a fighter. He has been since he was born. He was born at twenty-six weeks, with a thirty percent chance of survival. And if he did our parents were told there was almost a hundred percent chance of him having some type of handicap. But he defied those odds, he survived with no lasting effects."

"Okay, let me know if anything changes?" she asks as she leaves.

Will takes the seat by the bed and watches Jay's breathing as he sleeps. When Jay starts to stir, Will jumps up, "Hey, Buddy are you with me?"

"Will?"

"Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling? Do you know where you are?"

"Bad. Hospital?"

"You're really sick. Hailey brought you here. You're in the ICU, but you're going to be okay."

"What's wrong with me?"

"You have meningitis, we're treating it like it's bacterial until the tests come back."

"Tired," Jay mumbles as he fights to stay awake.

"Okay, go back to sleep."

"Stay?"

"I'm staying," Will tells him as he puts a hand on his brother's shoulder. Jay turns to face his brother before drifting back to sleep.

* * *

The test results came back two days later; Jay's test had come back as bacterial meningitis, so he was kept on the antibiotics. By the time Jay's test came back, the test for everyone else had come back negative, but they were to finish the round of precautionary antibiotics, and Jay was out of isolation protocol. Visitors who are not immediate family, meaning Will, are now allowed to visit for ten-minute intervals each hour; because Jay is still very sick, visitors still have to wear masks, gowns, and gloves.

Since Jay's cultures had come back, they were able to adjust the antibiotics to one that works well on the strain that he had contracted, _Neisseria meningitidis,_ which causes meningococcal meningitis. Because of his penicillin allergy, they were not able to use the first choice of antibiotics, Penicillin G, for his strain, but put him on a different cocktail of antibiotics, cefotaxime and vancomycin, that seemed to be working well. These antibiotics were given twice a day over the course of two hours, every twelve hours, for at least ten days.

Hailey had decided to stop by on her lunch break, seeing Will in the room with him, he steps out to not disturb his brother. "How is he doing?"

"He's better than before. His fever is still too high for my liking, but his breathing is still fine on the mask."

"Has he woken up at all?"

"Yeah, in and out, but not completely coherent. He's confused whenever he does."

"Is that normal?"

"Considering, Jay being Jay and not seeking out medical attention right away, I'd say yes. It's his body's way of trying to fight it off."

"How did he get this sick, this fast? How did he even get this?"

"Meningitis is fast-moving. In some cases, it can be deadly within hours. If you had just dropped him off at home and went back to work, we could be looking at a completely different outcome. And he caught it, just like he would with a cold or the flu."

"I should have brought him in sooner. He didn't want to come, so I was trying to wait and hope his fever would break. I thought he just had the flu."

"It wouldn't have made much of a difference. We didn't even think of meningitis until you guys mentioned the neck pain and light sensitivity. He had textbook symptoms, you even mentioned his hands being freezing, but the main red flags, that differentiates it from the flu are neck pain, light sensitivity, and a rash; the last one he hasn't presented."

Hailey about to answer back, but a text interrupts her. Looking at the message she sighs, "I have to go. We got a lead."

"Okay," he tells her. "Hailey," he calls towards her as she is walking away, she looks back to the older Halstead. "Don't worry about him. You know that's not something he would want. And if you got hurt on the job because you were worrying about him too much to focus, you know he would blame himself." Hailey just gives him a weak smile and a small nod.

* * *

Once Hailey leaves, Will goes back into his brother's room. Just as he is about to sit back down, Jay's whole body starts to shake. Recognizing the signs of a seizure, Will presses on the call button, for help. A doctor and a couple of nurses rush in, trying to push Will out of the room, but he stays firmly stays by his head, talking to Jay like he did when they were kids and he was going through a seizure. The doctor had instructed the nurse to add an anti-seizure medicine to the IV. Once that was administered, the seizure started to slow down, eventually stopping at around the two-minute mark.

After the seizure ended, the doctor addresses Will, "I was hoping because of being on day three with no seizures, he wasn't going to have any. We're going to be taking him down for an MRI and CT scan later today, to make sure there's no brain damage, from either the meningitis, nor the seizure. Also, because we never got an initial scan when he was first admitted"

"Okay. He does have a history of febrile seizures until he was six. So, if it wasn't from the infection, it could possibly be from high temperature; it hasn't dropped below 103.6 for more than forty-five minutes to an hour at a time," Will lets the doctor know since he has no clue if there are notes about Jay having febrile seizures because he hasn't had any in close to three decades.

"Okay, someone will be up to take him for the scans when one becomes available. It looks like there is a slot open in about an hour, and the scan will take thirty to forty-five minutes each.

"Okay, thanks," Will tells the doctor before returning to Jay.

After about a half an hour of sitting with Jay, Will notices that he starts to stir. "Will?" Jay slurs.

"Yeah, Jay. I'm here."

"Wha' happn'd t' me?"

"You had a seizure. They want to run some more tests in a bit."

"Thought I didn't get them no more," Jay says as his speech becomes a bit clearer. "Wait, no needle?" he asks referring to the spinal tap.

"No, there's no needle for this. It's just an MRI and CT scan."

"Okay, good," Jay replies before falling back to sleep.

* * *

Half an hour later, two orderlies come up to take Jay down for the MRI and CT scan. He wakes up only when the bed first moves, but quickly falls back to sleep when he heard Will tell him it's okay.

Jay manages to sleep through both tests, the seizure having taken a toll on his body. When Jay is returned to his room an hour and a half later, Will is standing outside of it, talking to Natalie.

Natalie, trying to convince Will to take a break and to sleep some. "No, Natalie. I need to be here for him. I left him to go to New York and I left him alone when our mother died. I'm not leaving him again."

"You wouldn't be leaving him. He needs you healthy; how about when I get off, I stay with him and you can take a nap in the on-call room?"

"I don't know."

"He will be fine. And I'll get you if anything happens," Natalie pleads with the stubborn Halstead gene. "He seemed comfortable with me when I found him and Hailey in the ED."

"You'll get me if anything happens?"

"Yes."

"Okay, but only for an hour," he reluctantly agrees. He gives Natalie a quick peck, before going back into the room to sit with Jay.

* * *

Will sits up straighter when the doctor comes back into the room. "CT looks good, it doesn't appear to be any brain damage, but we won't know for sure until he's up and alert. The MRI on the other hand is a different story."

"What's wrong with his MRI?"

"It looks like his spleen is a bit enlarged. Now at the moment, it's not too worrisome, but it is something that I want to keep an eye on. His kidneys are also not functioning where I'd like them to, so I'm going to put him on dialysis until they can recover. Other than that, it looked good, all things considering."

"How long until you think the antibiotics, start to work? They seem to be keeping the infection at bay, but that's it."

"I'm not sure. Each person is different, you know that, but if it doesn't start to change by tomorrow night, I'll adjust them to either a different cocktail or a different dosage."

"Okay, thanks."

"Yes. A nurse will be in shortly to start with the dialysis."

Will just nods, looking at his brother. Looking through his phone to pass time, Will is interrupted when the dialysis nurse comes in.

"Hi, he's going to be hooked up continuously, to try to give his kidneys a break until they're not under as much stress," the nurse tells Will as another IV is connected to Jay.

* * *

With the day dying down, Will fixes the cooling blanket that's still on Jay, before placing his hand on Jay's shoulder. Just as he goes to sit down, Jay starts to seize again. Quickly, Will hits the call button, before trying to talk Jay through the seizure.

Nurses and a doctor quickly enter the room, administering anti-seizure medication for the second time that day. Will, happy when he sees the seizure slower, but worries when he sees that this one was longer-lasting at just under four minutes.

Seeing that Jay gets settled, Will looks at the clock, noting that Natalie is getting off soon and will force him into the on-call room to sleep. He looks down at Jay, who seems so much younger, and more innocent like he doesn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders.

His thoughts are interrupted when Natalie knocks on the glass door. He motions for her to come in. "Hey, how is he doing?"

"He just had another seizure," he tells her.

Natalie rubs his arm in a comforting manner, "He's going to be okay. He's strong."

"Maybe I should stay with him tonight. You should go home," Will having second thoughts about leaving Jay after seeing the second seizure.

"No. Will, you need to rest too. I can stay with him tonight. I get that he's your little brother, but he's going to need you healthy. So, either go home and sleep or go sleep in the on-call room."

"You can't spend the night here, you have Owen," Will tells her.

"Helen has him tonight."

"I shouldn't leave him."

"You aren't leaving him. I will get you if anything happens."

"You'll get me?"

"Yes, now go," she tells him.

Will walks over to Jay, showing a rare moment of affection by kissing his forehead before whispering to him, "I love you, Jay," just before Natalie gently pushes him out of the room.

Natalie takes a seat in the chair that Will vacated, "I guess it's just the two of us tonight," she tells Jay. "You know, Will's really worried about you. He loves you and he cares, even if he doesn't always show it. He feels like he abandoned you and he regrets it."

Natalie settles into the chair for the night, hoping that Will is going to sleep for more than an hour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conversions:  
> 103.6= 39.8


	7. Chapter 7

Natalie wakes up, looking at the clock and sees that it's been two hours since she forced Will to go to the on-call room. Trying to figure out what woke her, she hears the noise again; it is Jay crying out in his sleep. She can't understand everything that he is saying, but Natalie thinks she hears him say the word _mom_ a few times. From the few things that she has gotten out of Will about his past, he had told her in passing that since Jay was the youngest he was always a "mama's boy" and he was always closer to her than their father. Being a mother herself, she can't imagine not being there for her child when he needs her, by choice or not.

Hearing him again, Natalie attempts to wake him up, "Jay. Buddy can you wake up for me?" she asks by rubbing his arm.

Slowly, he stirs, "Mom? Nat? Where's Will?" he asks sleepily.

Heart breaking when she hears him ask for his mom, she pushes that aside to answer his questions, "Yeah, it's Natalie."

"Where's Will?" he asks again panicked as one could in his condition.

"I made him go to the on-call room to sleep some," Natalie tells him. "I can get him if you want?"

"You're staying?"

"I'm staying until he gets back."

"Owen?"

"Is with his grandmother."

"'Kay," Jay answers already half asleep.

"'Okay' get Will or 'okay' I can stay?" she questions.

"Stay. Will needs sleep too," answers Jay turning to his side again.

* * *

Will makes his way back to his brother's room at about three in the morning to find his girlfriend asleep in the chair next to the bed and Jay asleep on his right side. He takes the chair on the other side of Jay and falls into a light sleep until morning.

* * *

Will wakes up again when he hears Natalie trying to leave without disturbing the brothers. "Hey, Nat. Why didn't you get me after an hour?" he questions her.

"Because we were fine. He woke up once, and I asked if he wanted me to get you, but he said to let you sleep too."

"He was fine?"

"Yes, but he was talking in his sleep a bit. Asking for your mom; I don't know if he remembers that. He was still pretty out of it when he was up." Will takes a slow, deep breath at this, not knowing what to do for his brother. "What time did you get back here?"

"Around three," Will says as he watches the nurse make the six o'clock check-in.

"His temperature is down," the nurse informs Will. "102.8, might be able to get rid of the cooling blanket later today." Will, tries to wrap his mind around that the fact that his brother's temperature is just under 103 is down.

"Yeah, thanks, Alice."

"Just hit the call button if you need anything," she says as she leaves.

"I'll check back in on you during my break," Natalie tells Will as she leaves to back down to the ED.

Will forces Jay awake when breakfast comes around, Jay only eating a couple of bites before falling back to sleep; sleeping the morning away.

* * *

Jay wakes up in pain just before noon. Will is immediately at his brother's side sensing his discomfort. "Jay," Will sternly says, trying to catch his brother's attention, "What's wrong, what hurts?"

"My side."

"Here?" Will asks while pushing where the appendix is, praying that he doesn't also have appendicitis.

"No. Here," Jay says pointing to where his spleen is. Will quickly hits the call button, remembering from yesterday's scans the spleen was enlarged.

Just as staff enters the room his room, his stats start to drop, causing chaos. "What happened?" asks the doctor who was on-call.

"He said that his side hurt and then pointed to where his spleen is," Will tells the doctor. The doctor goes to check on the spleen, "It was enlarged during the scan yesterday," Will tells him.

"It looks like it ruptured, the second seizure yesterday could have affected it," the doctor tells him, "We need to get him into an OR now. Do-"

"Yes, do whatever you need to," Will cuts him off knowing what he is about to ask.

Wheeling Jay off to an OR, Will is left alone, praying that the only family member he has left is going to make it.

* * *

In the OR, Jay is transferred to the table before they cut into him. Locating the spleen, the surgeon works on removing it while keeping an eye on Jay's dropping blood pressure. Calling out for someone to start a transfusion of O-negative. During all of this Jay is in his own world.

_Jay finds himself, back in normal clothing, walking around an empty park that his mom took him and Will to many times growing up. Walking around, looking for anything, he sees a woman walking towards him. Going towards her, as they get closer to each other he recognizes this woman, his mother._

" _Mom," he whispers, not believing what he is seeing, she looks healthy, as he remembered her before the cancer had its ugly grasp on her and ultimately caused her untimely death._

_She opens her arms, inviting him into a hug. Jay goes straight into her embrace, although taller than her, he buries his head into her neck. "My Jaybird," she whispers._

_Holding each other tight, neither one of them makes the first move to let go. His mom is the first one to let go, moving back to get a good look at her baby._

" _Mom, I don't understand? What's happening? Did I die? Where's Dad?"_

" _No, Baby you're not dead. You're very sick."_

" _Will said I have meningitis."_

" _Yes, and it caused your spleen to rupture. They took you into surgery to remove it," she gives him a moment to let that sink in. "You're in the in-between right now, and you need to choose."_

" _Choose? Choose what?"_

" _You need to choose if you want to go back or stay?"_

" _If I go back what happens, can I be a cop without a spleen?"_

" _I don't know, Baby, but there is more to life than being a cop."_

" _I don't know anything else besides that and the Army. I swore to never go back to the Army."_

" _My Jaybird, there is_ so _much more to you than being a cop. You are a great brother, uncle, friend. You will be a wonderful father one day, there's so much you haven't done yet."_

" _If I go back, I don't know if I can still be a cop, I'll still have PTSD. If I don't, I can be with you, I won't be hurt again."_

" _Baby, I'm sorry I wasn't there when Erin left you, and for any other time that you needed me and I wasn't there. And I'm sorry that I won't be there when you find the right girl and get married to her, when you have children of your own, but I am_ always _going to be with you and your brother. You have so much more to accomplish before it's your time."_

" _Where's Dad? Is he not here because he thinks I hate him? The last time I saw him, we got into an argument, Mom, I called him a bastard. I'm sorry," he cries to her._

" _Jay, your father knows that you don't hate him. He loves you, he just had a hard time showing it. Your dad was so proud of you, he just wanted to protect you in his own way. He didn't want you to see what he saw. Both of us are_ so _proud of you and your brother._

" _How can you be proud of me? I killed so many people," Jay cries._

" _You served your country. You did what you had to do, you've felt remorse for taking lives. You are not a killer."_

Once stabilized, Jay comes out of surgery they move him back to his room in the ICU, not wanting him in recovery because of the meningitis. Will, who was waiting, jumps up when he is wheeled back into the room.

"How did it go?" he asked while looking his brother over.

"We lost him once, but we were able to get him back. The rest is up to him. There is something that we need to discuss though."

"What is it?"

"The antibiotics don't seem to be doing what we want them to be doing. We would like to sedate and intubate him, and then put him on a high-dose and flow of Benadryl through an IV and switch the antibiotics to the Penicillin G."

"He's allergic."

"We know. He would be monitored very closely, but we believe that this option is the best chance that he has. We'd also be pushing epi after each round."

"What are his chances both ways?"

"With the current antibiotics, we're hovering around forty percent. If we switch to the penicillin, it increases to around eighty-five to ninety percent."

Thinking about his choices, he chooses the second option, and prays that their mom is watching out for Jay.

" _Mom, my throat feels weird."_

" _You're being intubated, they're switching the antibiotics."_

" _What does that have to do with being intubated?"_

" _They're switching to penicillin."_

" _I'm allergic. Will knows this, he wouldn't let them."_

" _Will does know, but given the options he was given, he's trying to save you, Jay. He's thought this through."_

" _If I go back, what happens?"_

" _You fight, and you live your life, knowing that your dad and I will be here waiting for the both of you when your time comes. You get to see your family again."_

" _You mean Will? It's just the two of us left, and he has his own family now."_

" _Just because Will has his own family now, doesn't mean he's going to forget about you. The only time he's left your side was when Natalie forced him to. And I mean Will, Natalie, Owen. Your work family: Your partner is a nice girl; and that Kim girl, she looks up to you like a brother. And you have Antonio, Kevin, and Adam as well; remember family's not just blood."_

" _You know about them?"_

" _Of course, I do. I also know about Mouse. He's fine."_

_A sensation goes through the both of them, "Baby, if you're going back it needs to be now," she tells him, pulling him into a quick hug, both of them savoring the moment._

" _But Mom-" Jay starts._

" _Now!" she yells._

" _I love you mom!" he yells as he gets pulled away from his mom and back to his body._

" _I love you, too, my Jaybird!" he hears his mother yell towards him._

Jay finds himself back in his body, his mind aware, but his body sleeping. He can hear the machines, can hear Will talking to him, pleading to be okay, to not be mad at him. He can feel the air being pushed through his lungs, the mechanical breathing of the machine doing all the work for him. Not being able to do anything he drifts back to oblivion.

* * *

Will debates how he is going to tell Hailey all that has happened, remembering that he promised to let her know if anything changed. He doesn't want to leave Jay, but he doesn't want all the equipment keeping Jay alive to shock his brother's co-workers. He also doesn't think that it's appropriate to tell them by text or calling them. He decides to think about it, while he watches his brother, a machine breathing for him.

Will becomes so lost in the rhythmic, sound of all the machines, he does not notice when Natalie steps into the room, "Hey."

"Hey."

"Do you need anything?"

"No."

"When was the last time you ate?"

"I had a bag of chips, just before he got out of surgery."

"I mean real food." Will just shrugs his shoulders. "Okay, how about I get you something from the cafeteria? No arguing," she tells him before he can say anything. Natalie leaves before he can get a word out.

Returning, Natalie sees that he hasn't moved. "Here. Eat, now."

"Hey, Nat. I need to let Hailey and them know what happened, can you stay with Jay so I can talk with them?" Will asks, hesitant to leave his brother.

"No, you stay with Jay. If you can get them here I can talk with them in a family room."

"Okay, thanks Nat," he tells her. Now he only needs to text his brother's partner. Debating on what to tell Hailey, Will settles on: _Hey, can you guys come to Med? Need to talk?_

He gets a text asking if everything is okay, his only response is that he will answer when they get there, and to text when they are there.

His phone goes off, letting him know that the rest of the intelligence unit had arrived. Checking his phone, he tells Natalie, "They're here."

"Okay, I'll go talk with them." She walks out of the room, leaving the two brothers alone. Natalie finds the intelligence unit in the waiting room of the ICU.

Walking up to them, she gets bombarded with questions about Jay. "Why don't we go talk in a family room." Everyone becomes silent at this.

Closing the door after the last person enters the room, Natalie starts, "Yesterday Jay had two seizures-"

"What!" a shocked Kim yells.

"Since Jay had a history of febrile seizures when he was a kid, Will just thought it was from the fever. After the first one, the doctor who was on-call decided to take him for some scans. One of them showed that he had an enlarged spleen. He wanted to keep an eye on it, but Jay woke up this morning in pain where the spleen is. It turns out that it had ruptured, so he was taken into surgery to remove it. After he got out, his doctor talked to Will about switching the antibiotic to penicillin-"

"He's allergic," Hailey interrupts.

"He was intubated before they started it, and he's on a high-dose and flow of Benadryl through an IV and he's being monitored very closely." She lets the information sink in for a moment.

"What's this mean?" asks Kevin.

"It means that there was a complication, but he seems stable."

"When can we see him?"

"Right now, it's restricted to immediate family. I've only really been in there to make sure that Will's been eating."

"What's the prognosis?" Asks Antonio, afraid of the answer.

"Now that they switched the antibiotics, it jumped from around forty to an eighty-five to ninety percent." Watching the group's reaction, she watches their faces going through a mix of emotions.

"I thought he was responding well to the antibiotics," Hailey questions.

"The antibiotics were only keeping the infection at bay, but it wasn't killing it."

The group takes this in as they look at each other, all thinking the same thing: _What did Jay do for this to happen to him?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conversions:  
> 102.8= 39.3  
> 103= 39.4


	8. Chapter 8

A day and a half after switching to the penicillin, Jay seemed to have turned a corner. His temperature slowly started to decrease to the point where the cooling blanket and fever reducers were no longer needed; his temperature now running around 101, significantly cooler than when he was first admitted. Jay so far had not suffered another seizure, and Will was hopeful that it would stay that way.

Jay was still being kept sedated, to prevent him from trying to pull out the breathing tube. Visitor restrictions were lifted, the intelligence unit now allowed the normal visiting schedule of the ICU.

In Jay's room, Hailey is sitting on the chair that Will is not occupying. Even though Jay looks much better than the last time she saw him, she still finds it eerie seeing her partner look weak and helpless. Hearing the hiss of the ventilator, breathing for him, makes Hailey realize how close they all came to losing Jay.

Needing to get her mind on something else, she asks Will, "What happened to that in-take nurse? Colleen?"

"Natalie talked to Maggie since she makes schedules, and then they went to Miss Goodwin, so it'll actually stick, but Maggie is going to put her on the graveyard shift for the next four months, and she's going to be on probation for lack of a better word. So, if she pulls a stunt like that again, she could potentially be fired. She put someone's health in jeopardy who came here to get help. Jay should have been seen right away with how high his temperature was when you brought him in, by the time April got a set of vitals on him it was 104.5."

"But she never dealt with family of staff before? I wasn't trying to get you to treat Jay, but so you knew he was here. Jay could have died, right?"

"I know, apparently at her last hospital, it was policy to not disturb doctor or something like that. And he didn't. You can't go there," Will tells her.

"I know, it's just… I've never seen anyone that sick, let alone Jay."

"Hey, Jay should be fine. He's actually responding well to this. He's going to be sedated until the infection gets killed off by the penicillin, then he's getting switched to a different IV antibiotic for a week. Once he's been off of the penicillin for long enough that he won't have a reaction to it, he'll be weaned off of the vent. When he can go home, he's going to be on oral antibiotics for a week then he can go back to work on desk duty– if he feels up to it."

"How long 'til he's back on full duty? That's the first thing he's going to want to know."

"Let's just take it one step at a time right now."

After a moment, Hailey asks, "Hey, Will?"

"Yeah?"

"Isn't there a vaccine for meningitis? I mean, wouldn't he have had to be vaccinated for it when he was in the army?"

"There is and he would have been."

"Shouldn't he have been protected then?"

"When he was in the army, there wasn't a vaccine for Meningitis B. But the strain he has should have been covered in the Meningitis ACWY vaccine. The one he got could have been from an ineffective batch, they also become less effective over time."

* * *

"It looks like he is well on the way in the right direction," Jay's doctor tells Will when Jay was brought back from another set of scans after four days on the penicillin. "Kidney function is improving, he can probably be taken off of the dialysis before we lift the sedation. Swelling's gone down."

"What's the 'but'?" Will asks, waiting for the other foot to drop.

"There is none. He's doing remarkably well for someone who was on death's door a week ago," the doctor tells Will, before leaving the room.

Once alone, Will sighs, grabbing his brother's hand, silently thanking his mother for watching over him. Knowing that his brother is heading in the right direction, Will decides that it is safe to take a nap, having not been sleeping more than a couple hours a night while keeping vigil at Jay's bedside.

* * *

Natalie walks in to find Will asleep on the cot that was brought in on the second day that Jay was on the penicillin. Seeing this, Natalie is happy that Will is finally getting some decent rest after spending just over a week worrying only about Jay.

Natalie places the blanket back on Will that had fallen to the floor. Will stirs at the movement but quickly goes back to his deep sleep, exhaustion taken over his body. She then goes over to Jay, her motherly instinct adjusting the blanket, that Will had her bring from home for Jay, once the cooling blanket was removed, claiming that hospital blankets were just sheets of paper.

Once she and Will had gotten serious, he had introduced Jay and her to each other in a formal, non-professional introduction. While getting to know Will, she had come to understand, that if she were to be in a relationship with him, she'd have to get to know Jay too. It didn't take long for her to understand the bond that the two brothers had. Even if they were at odds with each other when Will first moved back to Chicago, it did not change the fact that in a sense it was a 'them against the world' mentality, with their mother dying of cancer and a rocky relationship with their father, who later died in a high-rise arson fire, they only had each other. Will being the protective older brother, feeling responsible for Jay, even with both of them in their thirties, and Jay wanting to shield Will from the horrors that he sees on a daily basis. She knew from the start that if she'd wanted to peruse a relationship with Will, Jay would always be a part of their life. After a while, Jay had become like a brother to her as well, her son even calling him "Uncle Jay". There were even times where she'd felt a maternal pull towards him.

Once she fixed the blanket, she placed a hand on his forehead, happy that he was no longer burning up as he was when she did the same action just over a week ago in the waiting room of the ED, and he was now only slightly warmer than he should be. Natalie leaves the room before she would accidentally wake Will up.

* * *

It has now been a week since switching the antibiotics, Will being a constant presence in Jay's hospital room with Natalie and the members of the intelligence unit making various appearances. Jay's fever had finally broken yesterday and if all went according to plan he was doing to be taken off of the dialysis tomorrow. With the infection all but gone, Jay would be taken off of the penicillin in three days and the sedation would hopefully be lifted twelve hours after his last dose of the Penicillin G. He would then be put on another antibiotic for a week. After being sure that he's not going to have a reaction to the penicillin and making sure that his breathing is okay after being on the vent, the plan is to move him out of the ICU and into a regular room. Once deemed healthy enough to leave the hospital, Jay is going to have to work his way back up to where he was before he got sick.

* * *

The day has finally come. They are done with the penicillin, so Jay can finally be extubated. The doctor knows by now that there is no forcing the older brother out of the room, so he makes him stay by the foot of the bed during the process. Replacing the tube with the mask once again, Jay's airways seem to be doing a good job with the assistance from the mask.

Jay being the stubborn Halstead that he is, takes longer than what the doctor estimates. Will having left the room to talk with Miss Goodwin, left Jay alone with Hailey sitting by his bedside.

Hailey first notices Jay's hand twitch, "Jay?" she questions. "Are you with me?" He tries to speak, but his throat is dry from being intubated. "Here," she tells him while holding a cup with ice water and a straw for him. "Drink it slowly." Jay does what he's told for once.

"What happened?" Jay croaks.

"You got really sick, but you're doing a lot better. Do you remember anything?"

"Not really."

"That's okay. You had a pretty high fever most of the time. You know," she starts, "Will's going to be disappointed that he wasn't here when you woke up. He's barely left your side since I brought you in." Jay is fighting to stay awake at this point and Hailey can see it. "It's okay, go back to sleep."

"That's all I've been doing."

"You've been unconscious. There's a difference between that and being asleep." He is out again within minutes.

Ten minutes later Will walks back into the room, "Any change?"

"He woke up for a bit, drank some water. I asked if he remembered anything, but he said 'no'. I told him that you'd be disappointed that he woke up when you weren't here, and he fell back to sleep."

"I shouldn't have left."

"Hey, he's okay. He knows that you've barely left," she tells him while rubbing his shoulder in a comforting manner. "I need to go back to work."

* * *

As dinner is being brought around, Will wakes Jay so he can eat. "Hey, Buddy. Can you wake up for me? They're bringing in dinner for you soon."

"Will?" Jay asks, brain still waking up.

"Yeah, it's me. Welcome back, brother. How are you feeling? Honestly?" Will asks, not being able to help but to go into doctor mode.

"I've been better," Jay answers, "How long was I out for?" he questions while trying to sit up. "Ouch," he cries while grabbing his side.

"Careful, Jay," Will advises his brother. "Don't pull your stitches." At Jay's questioning look, he elaborates, "Your spleen was enlarged causing it to rupture. They had to remove it."

"Can I still be a cop?" Is the first thing that Jay asks.

"Yes, but you're off work for at least two more weeks. Then you're on desk duty for a while. You will need to stay on top of your immunizations from now on though. The spleen is a big part of your immune system, eventually, your liver will take over for some of that, but you're going to be more susceptible to illness now. And you were out for just over a week"

Before the conversation can continue, a nurse brings in dinner for Jay. Since Jay hasn't eaten anything in over a week, it is a clear broth. Jay eats about half of it before he starts playing with it.

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"You're going to be moved out of the ICU and into a regular room soon. You'll stay there for about a week before you're discharged and then you'll either stay with Nat and me or I can stay with you at your place."

"You said I had meningitis. Did I get anybody sick?" Jay questioned Will, afraid he got someone on his team sick.

"No. It was just you, we tested everyone you had contact with since you started showing symptoms, and their test all came back negative. But we did give them precautionary antibiotics to be safe." Jay is visibly relieved when he hears this.

Before Jay can ask any more questions, two orderlies come to move Jay into a regular room.

* * *

Once settled in his new room, Jay waits for Will to question him more. When Will arrives, before he can be questioned by Jay, he announces, "I texted Hailey. Let her know you were moved into a regular room. She said she would let the rest of your unit know, and that they would stop by tomorrow."

"Okay. Will, what happened?" Jay questions.

"What do you mean?" Will asks confused.

"I don't remember much after being checked for a concussion. Hailey said I had a high fever most of the time."

"You'd have to ask Hailey, but from what I know, she took you home after your concussion check. You had a high fever that was barely dropping below 103, just really lethargic, not really yourself. Basically, the flu times a hundred; she brought you once your temperature hit 104. We just thought that you picked up a really bad case of the flu, but then Hailey mentioned you had a sore neck and light sensitivity, which pointed to meningitis," Will pauses, giving Jay a moment to let this information sink in, before continuing, "Connor started you on broad-spectrum antibiotics until we could narrow it down to what strain you had. You had a couple of seizures, I told you about your spleen. While you were intubated from surgery, we switched the antibiotics, because the ones you were on weren't helping. That's why you were under for so long. Penicillin G. has a better survival rate, but because of your allergy we had to use something else, eighty-five to ninety percent versus a forty percent chance. But with you being intubated, the antibiotic was switched and you were kept sedated, so you wouldn't pull the tube out, on a high dose and high flow of Benadryl. I'm sorry Jay, but I had to do something," Will tells him.

Jay lets that sink in before grabbing Will's hand, "It's okay. You did what you had to do. How did I get sick? I had to get a meningitis vaccine when I was in the army," Jay asks.

"When you were in the army, there wasn't a vaccine for Meningitis B. But the strain you had should have been covered in the Meningitis ACWY vaccine. The one you got could have been from an ineffective batch, they also become less effective over time," Will answers while Jay is fighting sleep once again.

Being the observant older brother he is, Will notices, "It's okay. Go to sleep. I'm not going anywhere."

"All I've been doing is sleeping," Jay complains, "and you don't need to stay with me. Go home, see Natalie and Owen."

"Go easy on yourself, your body just fought a major infection. You almost died, give it time and you're not getting rid of me that easily. Nat understands, and I facetime Owen."

Jay nods off, knowing that his brother is just as stubborn, if not more, as he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conversions:  
> 101= 38.3  
> 104.5= 40.3  
> 103= 39.4  
> 104= 40


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, the intelligence unit stopped by, having not seen Jay awake yet. When they arrive, Jay attempts to sit up, before the girls stop him.

"I'm going to give you guys some time. Text me if you need anything," Will tells Jay, before departing the room, trusting that his brother is in good hands.

Kim immediately goes to hug Jay, being careful of the monitors and IVs that are still attached to him, "I'm so glad you're okay," she cries.

"I'm okay," he reassures her while returning the hug.

"Hey, brother. How you feeling?" Kevin asks him.

"I've been better, but I feel good. What have I missed?"

The group catch Jay up on the past week and tell stories about each other's antics. Jay tries to keep up to the conversation but starts to fade after forty-five minutes. Antonio is the first to notice, "I think we should get going." The others catch on and agree with him, before offering well wishes to Jay and leaving.

Hailey stays back, not wanting to leave Jay by himself. Jay notices, "Hey, it's okay if you need to leave," he tells her.

"Yeah, I think if I left you alone Will would kill me," Hailey tells him.

"He wouldn't kill you, I'll be fine."

"I don't know. He hasn't let you be by yourself since they got you settled in ICU." The two are silent for a while after that statement.

"So, Jay. Next time you aren't feeling well, you need to tell me for real. Before you are on death's door," Hailey tries to joke, but Jay sees through her and can see that he had scared her.

"I'm sorry that I scared you, Hailey," Jay apologizes.

"It's okay. Will said that early symptoms are almost identical to the flu; that it's hard to tell the difference. How are you feeling now? Honestly, it's just us."

"Better than when I first got here. Still not one hundred percent, but I feel a lot better." Hailey gives him a look, not believing him, "Sore, drained- physically, mentally."

"Go to sleep." After he has fallen asleep, Hailey texts Will to let him know that the unit has left besides her and that Jay has fallen back to sleep.

* * *

When Will gets back ten minutes later, he is still asleep and Hailey is looking through her e-mails.

"Hey, how'd the visit go?" Will asks, startling Hailey.

"It went good. When he started to space, the others left so he could sleep."

"That's good. How did he seem? I was hoping that seeing everyone would cheer him up," Will tells her.

"He seemed happy to see everyone. He didn't like that the attention was on him, but I think that's normal for him." Hailey gives him a questioning look.

"Good. The first thing that he asked after if he could still be a cop after losing his spleen, was if he got anybody sick, he seemed pretty worried for how out of it he was. I was hoping that seeing everyone would give him some peace of mind."

"So, I think that Jay might be feeling a little crowded," Hailey tells him softly.

"What do you mean?"

"When I told him that I was staying until you got back, he said that I didn't need to. I told him that you might kill me if I left him by himself. He said you wouldn't and he be fine."

"I wouldn't kill you, but I feel better when someone is with him."

"For how long?" Hailey asks, "You can't be by his side forever. If anything, let him by himself for a couple of hours while he's still here. He's out of the ICU and if anything were to happen, there are people around to help him. Just think about it," Hailey tells him before she leaves.

* * *

"What time is it?" Jay asks Will when he wakes up, trying to get his bearing straight.

"A little after six, you should be getting dinner in here soon."

"You should go home. Be with Natalie and Owen."

"Natalie understands."

"Go home. I'm just going to sleep. I've been sleeping all day, why am I still tired?"

"Your body is fighting a major infection, you almost died. Give it time, Jay," Will chides as he turns on a hockey game for background noise, just as the nurse brings in dinner for Jay. Jay eats without complaint.

That night, Will goes home to spent the night for the first time in over a week, only after Jay threatened to have him kicked out. The older Halstead tells himself that he will be back first thing in the morning.

* * *

Jay sleeps on and off for the next few days, before finally being able to stay awake for most of the day. Getting back to himself where he is driving the nurses, doctors, Will, and Hailey crazy about when he can leave and return to work.

Finally, two and a half weeks after he was first admitted, Jay is finished with the IV antibiotics and is waiting for his discharge papers to be signed.

"Okay, Detective. You can go home now. You have a week of oral antibiotics, three times a day you'll need to take at home. Take them with food. Take all of them, in the full dose. Once you finish them, you can return to work, if you feel like you can handle it. When you go back, light duty for at least a week. More if you're still not one hundred percent. It's going to take your body some time to get back to where you were before you got sick. Any questions?"

"No."

"Okay, a nurse will be in here in a minute with a wheelchair. No arguments, hospital policy." Jay sighs at this but is happy at the thought of leaving.

Right behind the nurse with the wheelchair is Will. "Ready to get out of here?"

"Yes."

Will takes Jay's things on his lap before he takes the handles of the chair that his brother is sitting in and heads out to the exit where he pulled up the car.

On the way to Will and Natalie's the ride is mostly quiet. Will, still tired from spending many nights sleeping in a hospital chair, and Jay still bouncing back from being sick.

Will helps Jay into the house and settles him on the couch, turning on the television to the sports channel for highlights.

"Don't you need to go back to work?" Jay asks.

"No. I talked to Miss Goodwin, and FMLA is approved at Med for siblings."

* * *

That night, after dinner Natalie puts Owen to bed and Will helps Jay to the spare room when he sees him falling asleep on the couch. "Do you need anything?" Will asks

"No, but… I need to tell you something."

"What's up?" Will asks, sitting down on the bed, next to Jay.

"I saw mom…"

"What?"

"When I was taken to surgery, I saw mom. She's been watching us. Did I die?"

"What?"

"Did I die? She said I had to choose."

"Choose?"

"To stay with her and dad, or to go back to you and everyone else."

"They lost you once, but they got you back."

"She said that she was sorry. For not being here."

"Did she say anything else?" Will asks once he is over the shock of hearing about their mom.

"She knows about Nat and Owen, and Erin and the team." At this Will hugs his brother, knowing Erin is still a bit of a sore spot. Jay leans into his brother, wanting to feel the comfort that he provides. "I miss mom," he whispers.

"I know. It's okay. I do too," Will tells him, "You know, if mom were still here, she wouldn't have left your side and she'd either be staying with you, or she'd make you stay with her until she felt you were healthy."

"I know," Jay answers, "she said that she was proud of us and wished she could see our kids." Jay becomes silent after this. Will just pulls his brother closer, sensing that he was done talking. Jay being the youngest, he was always closer to their mom, has been more affected by her death because he was overseas when she died and couldn't be there for her.

* * *

Natalie finds them in the same position a half an hour later, Jay asleep leaning against Will and Will holding his younger brother in a protective embrace. Going over to the side that Will was on, gently waking him up, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, he's just… he told me he saw our mom when he was in surgery."

"Wow, I don't know what to say."

"I think I'm going to stay with him tonight, it shook him up a bit."

"Okay, I love you."

"Love you, too," Will tells her. Natalie kisses him, before giving Jay a motherly kiss on the forehead.

* * *

The next few days, Will and Jay hang out watching whatever movie or sports highlights are on, Owen would go to the daycare program at Med but was always excited to see his Uncle Jay when Natalie brings him home.

Jay worrying that Will isn't spending enough time with Natalie because of him, so he somehow convinces Will that he will be fine for a night if he takes Natalie out. Will not trusting Jay by himself, calls Hailey to come by to see if she would mind hanging out with Jay. When she agrees, Will calls Helen to watch Owen, not wanting Hailey to feel like she is babysitting his soon-to-be stepchild.

Hailey arrives bearing food for the two of them. Will lets her in before leaving with Natalie, leaving her with Jay. "Hey, I brought food," she tells him.

"Pizza and beer?" Jay asks.

"No. You're on antibiotics, you can't have beer. Let's work you back up to that. I brought Chinese. Wonton soup and brown rice."

"Hailey?" Jay questions.

"Will said, not to let you eat anything too heavy or greasy yet. You need to work your way back to that."

"Okay, okay," Jay says as he grabs the food. "The Blackhawks are on." The two settle on to the couch where they watch the Blackhawks play against the Philadelphia Flyers. "Thanks for bringing dinner over."

"Anytime."

The two finish their dinner while watching the game. By the middle of the second, Jay is falling asleep on the couch, his body still recovering from being sick. Hailey notices and tells him that if he wants to go to bed, she doesn't mind. "No, I want to see this."

"At least lay down," Hailey says as she forces him to lay on the couch, head in the throw pillow that she placed in her lap. Running her hand through his hair again, Jay is asleep before the second ends.

Still in the same position when Will and Natalie get back halfway through the post-game, Hailey silently tells them to be quiet.

"How long has he been asleep?" Will whispers.

"Before the end of the second," Hailey answers. "I tried to get him to go to bed, but he wanted to watch the game. I was going to wake him after this, so he can sleep in an actual bed." Hailey is absentmindedly playing with his hair.

"Did he tell you?" Will asked, looking at how she is playing with his hair.

"Tell me what?"

"Why he likes it when you run your hand through his head?"

"He just said it felt good. I'd assumed that it had helped with his headache."

"That might have been part of it, but our mom used to do that for us all the time when we were sick, upset, or scared. It's familiar and comforting." Hailey surprised by this revelation, can only look down at her partner's sleeping form, is saddened by how he must have been looking for the comfort from his mother, but couldn't have it.

At this the post-game is finishing up, "We should wake him. Make him go to bed?"

"Yeah. I've got it," Will tells her. "Jay, wake up," Will whispers while rubbing his shoulder gently. "Time to go to bed. In an actual bed." Jay stirs and mumbles incoherently before sighing and going back to oblivion. "Jay," Will tries louder.

That does the trick and Jay looks up groggily at his brother. "Will? When did you get back?"

"Just now. C'mon, you'll sleep better in your bed."

"Game's over?

"Yeah, you fell asleep before the second was over. We lost in a shootout," Hailey tells him.

"Okay. You headed home?"

"Yeah."

"Text me when you get home, so I know you're safe?"

"I think you'll be asleep again before I get home, but I will." Jay seems content with that answer and heads to his room. Natalie walks Hailey out, leaving Will to deal with Jay.

* * *

Two weeks later, five weeks since Jay's been to work, he walks into the district. He is not in there for thirty seconds, before Platt calls him over. "Good to see you back on your feet Chuckles."

"Thanks, Sarge. Good to be back."

"Now get up there, what are you waiting for? An invitation?"

Jay chuckles at her comment, some things never change. Buzzing into the Intelligence bullpen, Jay sees everyone at their desks. Hailey is the first one to notice him, followed by Kim and Kevin. They all get up to give him a hug and welcome him back. When he looks over at his desk, he sees a large bottle of hand sanitizer as a joke.

As they catch him up on the current case that they are working on, Jay's only thought is that it is good to be back, even if he is on desk duty for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> Conversions:  
> 103= 39.4  
> 102.8= 39.3  
> 104= 40


End file.
